Automatic Data Collection (“ADC”) device platforms, such as ADC device platforms equipped with bar code readers, have received increasing commercial attention in the past few years. ADC device platforms, such as hand-held data collection terminals, or hand-held personal computers, have been widely implemented in the retail marketplace and have garnered increasing utilization in a diverse range of application areas. The ever-decreasing cost and size of ADC device platforms has facilitated their entry into a wide variety of commercial, institutional, and governmental settings.
An ADC device platform having a bar code reader adeptly accesses and retrieves data stored in the form of a bar code label. Data representing virtually any product or service found in the marketplace may be encoded in a bar code label for later access by an ADC device platform having a bar code reader. For these reasons, ADC device platforms are now actively used for planning, controlling, producing, and analyzing most aspects of commerce. Bar code readers include laser scanners as well as other means of collecting product information, such as a bar code wand, still camera or area imager. In addition to bar code labels, other ADC data formats include Radio Frequency (“RF”) tags, magnetic strips, Optical Character Recognition (“OCR”), speech input, and any symbol having encoded data therein.
In a conventional ADC device platform environment, the recipient of ADC data either physically manipulates the ADC device platform itself to retrieve the ADC data or receives the ADC data through a local, and probably proprietary, network. Thus, a typical ADC device operator is limited both in terms of the distance from which the operator may be located away from the actual device and by the complexity and versatility of the elements that comprise the ADC device network which the operator utilizes. The operator suffers from still further limitations due to the fact that many conventional ADC device platforms are not readily configurable for new ADC devices, or even for ADC devices other than those attached to the ADC device platform when it is initially sold. Yet another limitation in a conventional ADC device platform arises when an operator wishes to add a new ADC device to one of the few ADC device platforms that will accept new ADC devices. This limitation stems from the fact that many ADC devices operate using proprietary communications protocols, and even when the communications protocols are non-proprietary, the communications protocols are typically non-standard. Thus, the operator cannot simply attach a new ADC device to an existing ADC device platform and expect that the new combination will function properly. The operator typically must either return the device to the manufacturer for re-fitting with the new ADC device or request that a service technician of the new ADC device's manufacturer visit the operator's location and perform the installation on site. Finally, the above limitations, both separately and together, hinder an ADC operator's ability to diagnose and make repairs to an ADC device platform.
ADC device platforms are primarily intended for technically unsophisticated operators. The typical ADC device operator has neither adequate training nor a rudimentary understanding of the basic principles upon which the ADC device platform operates. Consequently, when a typical ADC device operator encounters an anomaly or apparent anomaly with regard to the ADC device platform, the typical ADC device operator cannot diagnose the anomaly and make any required adjustments to the ADC device platform to restore its functionality. Some apparent ADC device platform anomalies result from the typical ADC device operator's unsophistication. Some manufacturers have found that fully half of the ADC device platforms returned to them as defective, in fact, contain no defects at all. ADC device platform manufacturers are understandably eager to reduce the number of ADC device platforms returned to them as inoperable and the number of on-site service calls, especially when the ADC device platforms are in proper working condition.